Startup businesses enjoyed a resurgence in 2011, according to the annual Simply Business Start-up Index, which shows the first rise in annual growth since the start of the recession in 2008.
The research finds:
A 3% increase in UK startups in 2011
A 19% increase in businesses started by retirement-age entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship no longer confined to London with strong regional growth reported
Jason Stockwood, CEO of Simply Business, commented: “Our results suggest that Government initiatives such as Start-up Britain have inspired would-be entrepreneurs to make their business dreams a reality. It’s now crucial that this support and encouragement continues into 2012 so these fledgling businesses can fulfil their potential.”
Here are the findings as an infographic:
Jason Stockwood added: “With ever increasing life expectancy and more flexibility around retirement, it’s interesting that those in the 60 plus age bracket are considering a second career as an entrepreneur. Starting a business can be hugely rewarding at any age and those with so much experience behind them are in a fantastic position to make it a success.
“It is also encouraging to see London is no longer monopolising entrepreneurism and other regions are giving the capital a run for its money. This trend will hopefully continue as aspiring business owners see success stories springing up around them.”
What do you think? Do you find the results encouraging? Are you surprised by any of the findings?
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HMRC Self Assessment returns – two more days to file and pay
HMRC has agreed that customers who can’t get through to HMRC's call centres on 31 January because of strike action will have a couple more days to submit their returns. Late penalties will not be imposed for people who file their Self Assessment returns on 1 and 2 February, the HMRC has said.
The SA deadline remains midnight on 31 January. However, HMRC will treat all returns that come in by midnight on 2 February as though they were submitted by 31 January. No one will have to pay interest on payments due on 31 January that are paid on 1 or 2 February.
A few key members of the Intuit team had a great day yesterday, attending the StartUp Britain Enterprise Calendar launch.
The StartUp Britain Enterprise Calendar is a new, interactive calendar of enterprise events, showcasing Britain’s vibrant and dynamic enterprise community. The calendar should be a great tool for entrepreneurs, signposting them to key events and growth opportunities. You can alsosubmit your own events to the enterprise calendar.
Following the launch of the new calendar, Mark Prisk, minister for business and enterprise, said: “We want 2012 to be the year of enterprise, where entrepreneurs can unlock their business potential. Enterprise events don’t just take place on one day, or during one week, but they appear throughout the year and across the country. We need to make sure people know that there is support and advice available, that it is easy to get, and it is often on their doorstep.”
He added: “The Enterprise Calendar is a great addition to our support for business in 2012 and beyond.”
(pssstt…don’t forget you can download our calendar too, which will also help you keep up to date with events as well as key financial dates.)
Expert advice
“I shifted to QuickBooks and I understood how the business ran. In some ways that was one of the most delightful periods of my life with King of Shaves because I understood everything financially.” Will King, founder of King of Shaves
There was also a panel discussion on the day, with some expert advice from Intuit UK's very own managing director, Pernille Bruun-Jensen, as well as Will King, founder of King of Shaves, Doug Richards, original Dragon, investor and serial entrepreneur and Bob Forsyth, head of UK SMEs at Ernst & Young.
Watch a snippet here:
You can see more short interviews with Pernille over at Business Zone.
StartUp Britain, which Intuit is a sponsor of, has also launched a range of new resources for small businesses. These were highlighted at the event and include:
If you’re a tweeter you may have noticed that just before Christmas Intuit was involved in the #12daysofSUB competition alongside StartUp Britain. Intuit donated a copy of QuickBooks SimpleStart to give away to the person who gave the best business tip each day over 12 days.
There were some brilliant tips so we thought it was worth sharing the winning ones here:
As part of Intuit’s commitment to supporting small businesses and helping them be successful, the Intuit UK office today hosted a question and answer session for SMEs with the Prime Minister, David Cameron.
The PM Direct event, at Intuit’s office in Maidenhead, provided a unique opportunity for small business owners and entrepreneurs to engage in dialogue about the Government's drive to support entrepreneurship and create the best possible climate in which to start up and grow a business in the UK.
The event was organised in association with StartUp Britain, a national campaign designed to celebrate, inspire and accelerate small business enterprise in the UK, which has the active support of the Government including the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Chancellor. Intuit is a founding sponsor of StartUp Britain.
Intuit: Supporting small businesses
After being greeted, the Prime Minister was introduced to the entire Intuit UK team, joining them for a chat and coffee.
It's a new school that has opened this year and focuses on developing entrepreneurial skills and helping pupils acquire the qualities required to be successful adults in our rapidly changing world, so it was very appropriate that the StartUp Britain bus took a stop there.
The Year 9 students at Portslade have all been tasked with setting up their own businesses and we were really impressed with their enthusiasm and the ideas we heard about.
We talked to one group who are setting up a cupcake stall in Brighton with vegetarian and dairy-free products. We gave them some tips and feedback and got them thinking about how they were going to manage their cashflow and other financial matters. All credit to them, though - they had thought about their money management and loved the idea that they could use financial software to manage their finances via their mobiles.
All in all a brilliant start to the week and today we’re in Hampshire and Cambridge!
This week we’re back on the StartUp Britain bus tour, which is travelling to locations across the country with the aim of encouraging more people to start and grow their own business.
Expert advice
The StartUp Britain campaign shines a spotlight on the vast array of business support that is available online. The organisation is backed by a number of companies who have pledged their support to Britain’s budding entrepreneurs and small business owners.
As a founding sponsor of StartUp Britain, Intuit is among these supporting organisations, along with AXA, Barclays, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, MITIE and PayPal, who will each be giving specialist business advice and discounts to entrepreneurs across the UK.
Intuit UK is supporting the Mumpreneur Awards 2011, which honour and celebrate mums who successfully juggle running a business with raising a family.
On 25 September, at The Mumpreneur Conference 2011, the winners of the ten 2011 Mumpreneur Awards will be revealed, as chosen by a panel of entrepreneurs and experts including Duncan Bannatyne.
This year, Intuit UK is proud to be sponsoring and presenting the Inspirational Business Mum of the Year award and we can’t wait to meet the winner later this month.
#mumpreneurhour
We’ll also be giving help and support to business mums on Twitter tomorrow (13 September) in partnership with Mumpreneur UK. Follow us on Twitter and follow the hashtag #mumpreneurhour to get involved.
Between 2pm and 3pm, we’ll be tweeting about small business compliance. Diana Flier, our in house compliance expert, will be on hand to answer any questions, so please do send them to us. Diana is a payroll and compliance expert with over 20 years’ experience in payroll systems and processes. In her role at Intuit, she works closely with small businesses to help solve their financial management issues.
We’re back from out first week on the StartUp Britain bus tour and we had a great time chatting to entrepreneurs, demonstrating our software and providing guidance via our pro-advisors.
We were inspired by the range of people that we met, their boundless enthusiasm and the brilliant business ideas we heard about.
We happened to bump into someone you might recognise too – Melody Hossaini of The Apprentice fame, who gave us her top tips for start-up businesses. Find out what they are in this video.
StartUp Britain, which launched on 28 March with the support of the Government, aims to help budding entrepreneurs around the country through access to a combination of practical support, offers and assistance.
StartUp Britain helped me!
Jennifer Okpapi is one of the many entrepreneurs that has been helped by StartUp Britain. In late 2009, she opened Akhaya, the UK’s first African cooking school and the business is continuing to grow. She told us about the support she’s received and the highs and lows of being in business.
New businesses and 'silver startups' on the rise
Startup businesses enjoyed a resurgence in 2011, according to the annual Simply Business Start-up Index, which shows the first rise in annual growth since the start of the recession in 2008.
The research finds:
Jason Stockwood, CEO of Simply Business, commented: “Our results suggest that Government initiatives such as Start-up Britain have inspired would-be entrepreneurs to make their business dreams a reality. It’s now crucial that this support and encouragement continues into 2012 so these fledgling businesses can fulfil their potential.”
Here are the findings as an infographic:
Jason Stockwood added: “With ever increasing life expectancy and more flexibility around retirement, it’s interesting that those in the 60 plus age bracket are considering a second career as an entrepreneur. Starting a business can be hugely rewarding at any age and those with so much experience behind them are in a fantastic position to make it a success.
“It is also encouraging to see London is no longer monopolising entrepreneurism and other regions are giving the capital a run for its money. This trend will hopefully continue as aspiring business owners see success stories springing up around them.”
What do you think? Do you find the results encouraging? Are you surprised by any of the findings?
Posted at 08:13 AM in Business Pulse, Comment, Entrepreneurs, Infographics, Recession, Small business news , Small business success, StartUp Britain, Startups, Young Entrepreneurs | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
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